Mrs Weasley's Holiday
by Honestly don't you two read
Summary: What happens when Mr. and Mrs. Weasley decide that they need a break, leaving their children and Harry alone in the Burrow? Well, they find out how much they need their mother. A fun story set sometime after the war. Fred is not dead.


**Mrs. Weasley's Holiday** \- I own nothing from the Harry Potter universe :-)

The whole Weasley family was having a holiday.

Bill, Charlie, Percy, Fred, George, Ron, Ginny and by extension Harry was at the Burrow with Mr. and Mrs. Weasley, all enjoying their week off work to enjoy their time together. Hermione couldn't be there, she was having a holiday with her parents.

They were all in a good mood, playing Quidditch, chess, exploding snap and other games, eating Mrs. Weasley's great food. All was planned out.

The holiday would last from Saturday to Sunday the week after.

That Saturday they met to play Quidditch and enjoy family dinner. They all barged through the house, went out to play while Mrs. Weasley cooked, then they all came inside with dirty clothes and muddy shoes, with which they trailered through the house, they then proceeded to toss their dirty quidditch clothes in the bathroom in a large pile for Mrs. Weasley to collect.

As loud as a pack of bulls, they stomped downstairs and attacked the food, eating with the appetite, characteristic of a Weasley, and then collapsing in the sitting room talking loudly leaving it to Mrs. Weasley alone to clean up. Only a short "thanks for dinner mom" before they were gone.

Mrs. Weasley watched her children slightly annoyed, she wandered through the house saw the dirty clothes, the muddy shoe prints on the floor and the large washing-up left for her to clean. She had spent many years shouting at her children to help her, to do the work, and they wouldn't do it unless it was a punishment, but she was tired of being angry and punishing, they did not appreciate her work around the house. So at that moment, she made a decision, she needed a holiday.

She left everything in the house as it was and quickly found her husband in the shed with his muggle things. She told him that they were going on a holiday right away, somewhere where she could get pampered. Mr. Weasley laughed at the idea of his children being alone for a holiday without their mother, he himself had tried and failed at persuading their children to help, and she would not let him help as he was so busy with his work. Therefore, he wholeheartedly agreed that they needed a holiday. They quickly and quietly packed a bag and wrote a note to leave on the kitchen table before apparating away to a wizarding resort where luckily they had room for two for a week, deciding they would return next Saturday morning to have at least 2 days holiday with the family.

Two hours after the Weasley parents had left, unknown to anyone, a tired and hungry Ron Weasley entered the kitchen in search of leftover dessert. He quirked an eyebrow at the messy kitchen, and the lack of his mother then looked at the mud on the floor and wondered why it wasn't cleaned. He then found the note on the kitchen table, while he read it his freckled face became more and more white, and more and more awake. His stomach quickly forgotten, he hurried back to the sitting room with a panicked look on his face.

Everyone there looked at him in shock, Ron looked like he had seen a ghost. He just stared at his family and Harry in silent horror and they began to worry about his health. Finally, Bill, being the oldest, cleared his throat and asked, "what is going on Ron?"

Ron simply held the note in his hand out to him, and with a puzzled look Bill grabbed it and started reading it out loud.

"Dear children, your father and I have decided we need a holiday for ourselves. We have gone to a spa and will be thoroughly enjoying ourselves with no work at all. We will be back Saturday morning. We hope you will have a great holiday and keep the house together, as we are sure you are capable of. Hugs and kisses Mom and Dad."

Everyone looked shocked at the thought of Mrs. Weasley being away for a whole week.

"Well," Bill started, recovering first, "it is not that bad, surely we can cook, Ginny must have learned something from Mom and it won't be so bad, right?"

Ginny recovering from that statement looked angrily at her brother, " just because I am a girl, does not mean that I can cook!"

"Well, how hard can it be? I mean come on, we can do this" Charlie said encouragingly.

They all looked unsure but decided that it could not be that difficult so they proceeded out to the kitchen and all stopped to look at the mess.

"Wow, did we do that?" Charlie asked looking around at the dirty plates, cutlery, pots and pans and the mud on the floor.

"It does not usually look like that," Harry answered unsurely.

"That is because mon always cleans up for us I guess," Ginny said in a small voice.

They all looked in silence for a couple of minutes. Not knowing where to begin and where to end.

"Right," Bill started, again sensing the need to take control, as the oldest, "we will just make a plan and clean up." He waited a bit when no one answered he continued, "right, let's go to sleep and in the morning we will decide tasks for everyone and then it cannot be that bad." Everyone agreed, too overwhelmed to think about the mess, and each went to bed.

The next day, everyone thumped down to the kitchen sleepily. The events of last night more or less forgotten, until they stepped into the messy kitchen and everything came back to the full force.

"Argh," groaned Ron, "I had happily forgotten about that, how am I going to get my breakfast now?"

"Well, how about you just make it yourself Ron?" Ginny hissed, annoyed that he only thought of himself.

"I don't know how to...," Ron admitted. Harry did know how to cook, at least breakfast, the Dursleys had made sure of that, but he had decided when he finally got away from the Dursleys that he would not cook again for a long time, so he decided to stay quiet and appear ignorant.

"Okay," Bill interrupted his younger siblings, "we are all tired and need breakfast, now we will try and make some, with tea and coffee, then afterward we will discuss how we deal with this change of events."

Everyone made small noises of agreement and stared at the kitchen as if willing it to start cooking by itself.

Bill started finding eggs and bacon, thinking he had the general idea how to cook it, Charlie found sausages and started helping Bill. Ginny started making tea, Harry coffee, and Ron made toast, the twins started setting the table, after removing some of the mess from last night's dinner just enough to be able to set new plates and cutlery.

Soon the smell of burnt toast and bacon filled the kitchen, everyone then sat around the table trying to eat the burnt food, though with clear annoyance.

Soon they all finished with the less than agreeable breakfast and Bill stood up looking at his siblings and Harry, who he considered a brother, as well.

"Okay, now we need to divide and conquer as the muggles say, first we need someone on food duty, who can cook?" After the disaster of a breakfast, he did not hold much hope for them, he himself did not cook, he had either his wife Fleur or his mother cooking for him, but Fleur was in France visiting her family and he was there.

He looked towards Charlie, who had lived by himself the longest of the Weasleys, "Charlie how about you? You must cook since you live by yourself?"

Charlie looked sheepishly at his siblings, "well... During the week I eat at the reserve, in the canteen, and during the weekends I usually have a date or mom sends me food. I know how to make sausages for breakfast that's about it." Bill signed loudly, "okay then I guess you are on breakfast duty then."

Charlie looked happy with that, thinking he wouldn't burn the toast, and being used to getting up early at the dragon reserve it would not be a big change for him.

Bill then turned to his third oldest brother, Percy, "how about you Percy, cooking skills?" Percy looked annoyed but also a little sad, "I don't have time to cook," he replied, "I work so often, I would either eat at the ministry or Audrey will cook for me, however, I do make a good sandwich when I have time before I leave for work for a good lunch."

"Fine then you are on lunch duty," Bill sighed.

"Fred? George?" Bill asked the twins who had been very quiet, but he also knew they were not morning people. They both looked at him.

"Just because," Fred started.

"We live alone," George continued.

"With no wives."

"Does not mean."

"We can cook!"

Bill looked puzzled, "but how do you get food then?" he asked, knowing they did not have a cafeteria in their shop.

"Have you ever heard," George started again.

"Of muggle take-out?" Fred finished.

"You live off take-out every day when you are not at the burrow?" Harry asked bewildered, how were they not fat?

As if reading his thoughts they said:

"We don't eat the bad greasy stuff," they both looked disgusted at the thought.

"We have found a few great places that cook real food like in a restaurant."

"And they deliver it."

"We can afford it, and we don't really have time to cook either."

"Well, why don't we just do that this week so we don't have to cook?" Ginny said, excited by the idea.

"Well…" George started.

"They are taking a vacation as well" Fred continued, both looking sad. Everyone looked sad at that.

"Okay, well let's all help each other with dinner then, and then let's start with the cleaning," Bill said, determined to continue. "Okay as far as I can see we need to clean the kitchen and clean the mud off the floor, then as problems arise we can deal with it then, agreed?"

Everyone nodded. "Fine, well, we will all help so Ginny, Harry, and Ron, you start on the floor, I will wash the dishes, Charlie will dry, Percy will empty and bring the plates to me to be washed and Fred and George will put everything away when it is dried, everyone okay with that?"

Everyone nodded and set to work, eager to get it done so they could go play Quidditch.

Once everything was finished and the floor cleaned, Harry, Ron, and Ginny had to look up a spell to remove the mud as it had dried and therefore a simple scourgify wouldn't cut it, they all looked at each other pleased with the work.

They decided to do play quidditch, they all felt they had earned it after all the work they had done. They all headed up to their rooms to find their quidditch clothes. Soon, however, they all realized they did not have them and after some searching, they found them In a messy pile in the bathroom where they had dumped them the night before for their mom to wash.

They looked at each other but decided to use a freshening spell on them and a simple scourgify to get the worst mud off it and then go play. Hours later they came back, their clothes reeking of sweat and was very dirty.

They all dumped their clothes in the bathroom again and cleaned themselves up. Then realizing that someone had to wash.

"I am on lunch duty, I won't wash," Percy said.

"And I am on breakfast duty, I won't wash either," Charlie said quickly after, glad he did not have to come near the smelly clothes

The rest of them looked at each other, then decided that it would take two to wash and dry the clothes, they decided to draw straws, with two short straws for the losers. Charlie held them and they each picked one, the unlucky two to wash ended up being Harry and George, both looking thoroughly disgusted at the idea of washing the stinking quidditch clothes.

Percy started on the lunch and the rest of them relaxed in the sitting room while Percy, Harry, and George worked. Percy came with the food, and everyone besides George and Harry ate. Thirty minutes later the two boys had still not emerged from the washroom, they started getting curious about where they were. Ginny had just gotten up to check on her brother and boyfriend when a small explosion sounded from the washroom. They all ran to it and saw foam emerge out of the room and two very white foam covered boys using foul language at the machines, spelled to make clothed extra clean.

"I told you not to use that much soap George," Harry roared while spitting out soap, "it sounded like you said I should use more you dimwit" George roared back and then tripped over a laundry basket and fell to the floor, completely vanishing in the foam. When he got up it was to the roars of laughter from the rest of the Weasleys standing in the door looking at them in amusement.

They decided to leave the clothes for now, not in the mood to fix the problem. Hungrily, they ate their lunch.

Bill had cast a quick spell to vanish the foam but otherwise did nothing.

They relaxed the rest of the day, surprised how tired they were when they were so many to do everything. Then dinner came closer and they needed to decide what to do. Ginny got up to look in the refrigerator for something easy to make, she found potatoes and a couple of chickens. She decided that that couldn't be too hard. Then she came back to the living room with one of her mother's cookbooks in hand, looking very pleased with herself for thinking that the book would tell her what to do.

Everyone seemed impressed and it was soon decided that Ginny and Bill would do the cooking with Ron and Fred washing up afterward.

It soon became clear to Ginny and Bill that following a recipe was not as easy as they thought when they had no idea how to fix the chickens before cooking them, and then how to work the oven and the other small details. They decided to give it a go and that night the Weasley family had dry chicken with mashed potatoes, as they were cooked too long.

Ron and Fred quickly cleaned the kitchen while Harry and George gave the clothes another go and managed to remove most of the dirt with the same spell Harry, Ron and Ginny had used for the floor. Not daring to go near the machines again.

That night every Weasley and Harry went to bed early, they were really tired and could not fantom how their mother could do all that and more every day and still be awake to enjoy her children, they had just gotten a whole lot more respect for their mother.

The next day they woke up to an eatable breakfast by Charlie, It wasn't near as good as Mrs. Weasley's but no one complained as nothing was burnt but still had an odd taste to it. Nothing some coffee or tea couldn't wash down.

Their dirty clothes had begun to pile up during the next couple of days, they had eaten their burnt unsuccessful food and even went shopping, trying to choose something that would be easy but still filling... They had now had frozen pizza, easily heated, for three days. It was Thursday and they were all thoroughly tired of the unsatisfying pizza and lack of clean clothes, they had started to consider begging their mother to come back from her holiday, then the sound of apparition sounded outside. They all looked curiously towards the door, hoping their parents had decided to take pity on them and come home early.

When there was a knock on the door Bill rose to answer and was surprised to find Hermione standing outside.

"Hermione," he exclaimed surprised

"Hello Bill," Hermione said smiling, "can I come in?" She asked.

"Sure," Bill stepped aside and lead her to the sitting room where they all greeted Hermione somewhat tiredly and a little disappointed.

Hermione furrowed her brows at the somewhat cool welcome but decided to shrug it off, she sat down and looked at each of them. After a few minutes of silence Harry broke through, "I thought you were on holiday with your parents Hermione?" He asked.

"I was, but they were called home for an emergency, their staff had gotten sick so they had to go home, so I decided to come here," she stated happily... when she still could get no response from the sad bunce she decided to ask, "what is the matter with you guys? Don't you want me to be here?" She asked, suddenly getting a little self-conscious, she did not want to just barge into their home.

Bill sighed and explained to Hermione what a pickle they were in, Hermione listened to the explanation and to the problems they had had, then looked at them all and smiled, "Well, I can cook, and I am pretty good with cleaning spells as well," she said. Everyone looked excited at her and jumped up.

"Well you can just go shopping, and we are in need of clean clothes, especially our quidditch clothes, they smell," Ron stated happily. They all made to run from the room before she could reply, they hadn't gotten far, however before Hermione cut in.

"HOLD ON!" Her voice reminded them so much of Mrs. Weasley's that they all froze in their place, only a few steps from the door. Hermione swished her wand at the door at it locked, she looked at them sternly before they all flopped back down in the chairs.

"You just thought you could dump everything on me and make me do all the hard work Mrs. Weasley usually do? Well, you must not know me were well if you think that will be the case." They all cowered at her stare but said nothing so she continued.

" now I will go figure out what needs to be done here then come back with a plan, and you just "Stay put" she ordered, when no one made to respond she turned around leaving the room, making sure to lock it with one of her own invented spells before she left.

Bill, as the curse breaker, tried to open the door and was frustrated when in the few minutes she was gone he couldn't crack the puzzle of the locking charm, though he had found some clues. Harry and Ron grinned at Bill, proud of their friend's abilities as a witch.

Hermione soon returned with a determined expression on her face, they all groaned, knowing that look meant hard work.

"Now," she began, "you should really start helping your mother more here, taking care of the house, husband and kids are bound to be hard work, and you should know some of it by now, but you are going to help. First Bill and I will go shopping. Fred and George, you will de-gnome the garden, I almost got bitten so many are there. Harry, Ron and Charlie, you will wash the clothes, don't worry, I will show you how before I leave, and Ginny and Percy you will tidy up the sitting room, it is a wonder you even found the chairs and couches in this mess."

No one moved and she looked sternly at them again before clapping her hands together twice, "let's go, folks," and they all started moving slowly, Fred and George wandered to the garden, Ron, Harry and Charlie to the washroom and Ginny stayed behind with Percy to tidy up the sitting room. Bill waited by the door while Hermione showed the boys how to wash, explaining how to divide the clothes in colour and the amount of soap needed to wash, plush a few handy charms to get rid of the wrinkles and some for extra hard spots to clean, which the quidditch clothes would need, and also details of temperature etc. The boys looked puzzled that so many information was needed to wash, Charlie especially since he usually dumped all his clothes in together no matter color and never looked twice at the temperature.

After her explanation, she left the boys to figure it out and she went with Bill to the nearest shop, where she brought all they would need and several other small items Bill had not thought was necessary, only having the big picture in mind.

When they came back, they put everything away, and Percy had started his lunch sandwich and left Ginny to finish the sitting room, which she had finished once Hermione and Bill finished putting the groceries away.

Everyone came to the kitchen to eat, and when they were done Hermione commanded them back to work, setting Percy, Ginny, and Bill to clean the rest of the house, thinking correctly that the rest of the rooms also needed a good cleaning.

She decided to help the boys washing the clothes, and laughed at their attempt to straighten the shirts and remove the last stains from the Quidditch clothes, she helped them and they soon got the grasp. Getting really good at it, Charlie straitened the clothes, Harry removed stains and Ron dried the clothes, Hermione then proceeded to fold it neatly, which Charlie and Harry soon helped her with. She then decided to leave them to begin cooking.

When everyone was finished with their chores, they smelled Hermione cooking and felt very hungry, after all their hard work. Hermione was almost afraid she hadn't made enough, but knowing the Weasley appetite and the hard work they had done she had made extra. They were full, they were tired but they were happy, they all thanked Hermione with hugs and kisses, and went to bed early.

Friday they woke up early, Hermione helping Charlie make breakfast, which made it much better than it had been the days before. Then they proceeded to go play Quidditch, Hermione enjoying a good book while simultaneously watching them play. A few hours later they all trudged inside again leaving mud everywhere and dumping their quidditch clothes in the bathroom, all sitting down for a lunch made by Percy and Hermione.

Upon seeing the mud and the pile of clothes, and the Weasley's lounging in the sitting room she Once again put on her stern impression of Mrs. Weasley and stomped into the sitting room giving them all a glare, hands on hips and tapping her foot impatiently.

They all looked at her surprised of her look, they had all worked hard the day before what did they do wrong?

"Did you forget something?" She asked through clenched teeth.

They send each other puzzled looks and looked back to the fuming bushy haired brunet tapping her foot.

"What is wrong Hermione? We cleaned so much yesterday what have we forgotten?" Ron asked carefully, not wanting to set off the witch they all know could bring them pain easily.

"Yes you cleaned yesterday, what about today? Who will clean the kitchen after lunch? Who will clean the mud you left on the floor? And who will wash the pile if dirty quidditch clothes currently lying on the bathroom floor?" When they all just looked at her disbelievingly she continued, "you cleaned yesterday, yes, and you did a good job, but this job continues every day, your mother does this every day and she is only one person, and I bet she is tired of yelling at you and trying to make you help, she is tired and frankly I understand she needs a break, you should respect her more!"

She paused fuming, she could not understand how they could be so disrespectful towards their mother and simply think that yesterday's cleaning was the end of it. "Ginny and I will cook dinner, Harry and Ron will wash up afterward, that leaves Bill, Charley, Percy, Fred and George." She stated, no one answered, clearly a little afraid that if they did she would blow up more, her hair had already begun to crackle a bit, never a good sign. " Fred and Bill and George you will wash the clothes, seeing as Charlie knows how to do it, you should learn as well, and Percy and Charlie you will clean the kitchen... Now go!" She stated the last part stomping her foot hard on the floor making Fred, George, Bill, Percy, and Charlie stand up quickly and leaving the room, followed by Hermione to show the boys yet again how to wash the clothes. Back in the sitting room Harry, Ron and Ginny snickered to each other, enjoying the relaxation however short-lived when Ginny was called to the kitchen to help cook and Harry and Ron scowling while washing afterwards, with the rest of the boys grinning at them as they had finished and Harry and Ron had teased them with working while they did not.

That Saturday morning Mr. And Mrs. Weasley expected to come home to a mess, maybe even starved children and a destroyed house. Mrs. Weasley groaned at the idea of all the work she would have to do.

When they arrived outside the Burrow they were happy to see it still standing, they went inside and were shocked to see a clean house and all their kids with Harry and Hermione quietly eating their breakfast. As soon as they saw their mother they jumped up at once "MOM!" Ron yelled, " you came back," the twins exclaimed together happily, " we missed you," Charlie said and they all ran to her and hugged her, all except Hermione who looked on pleased.

"We promise to help you in the future mom!" Percy said seriously. "Yes, we will help you clean and de-gnome and wash, without any fuss, we promise," Bill promised, silently vowing to help Fleur out more, unknown to him, Percy was thinking the same about his wife, Audrey. "And we want to learn how to cook!" every single one of them exclaimed in unison much to the surprise of their mother. She was so shocked Mr. Weasley had to lead her to a kitchen chair and make her sit down. Hermione placed a cup of tea in front of her, smiling and said, "welcome back Molly and Arthur, I hope you enjoyed your holiday?"

Molly smiled at the girl who was practically her daughter, and she had a suspicion that she had something to do with the weird behavior of her children and Harry. She took a sip of the tea and turned towards her beaming children, "what happened here?" She asked them. And they started explaining what had happened since they left, their problems, their solutions their desperation until Hermione came and their eventual appreciation of her as they found Hermione and her bossy nature a bit too much and would much rather have their mother back. They explained their understanding that it was not fair she should do everything and their desperation when they found out they were all lousy at cooking and needed to be able to take care of themselves.

Molly was thoroughly entertained by the story of her children, and she promised her children she would teach them everything they wanted to know, and thanked them for their promise to help, even though she did not believe it would last for long.

She then proceeded to thank Hermione for her help. While the rest went to play Quidditch, Hermione gave Mrs. Weasley her own version of the story with a few details of their misunderstandings and problems and they had a good laugh. When the boys and Ginny re-entered they all took off their shoes outside and scourgified them before entering. Then proceeded to the washroom with their clothes and a promise to wash them after dinner. Hermione cooked again with Ginny and the boys cleaned up while the rest washed the clothes. Mrs. Weasley smiled as she relaxed with a cup of tea that evening.

In the next few weeks, Mrs. Weasley was proved wrong in the assumption that her children would not help her around the house. They offered help washing clothes, they never dumped their quidditch clothes in the bathroom again, and they always cleaned their shoes before going inside, to spare time washing they said. They even helped her cook and listened to all her tricks and tasks involved in cooking, she had even heard from Fleur that Bill had taken helping her around the house much more and being good at it as well.

She was so proud of her children, so happy and much less stressed and angry, she had the opportunity to be the mother she wanted to be and being able to be around her children more, and they slowly learned to cook and clean. No more take-out for them, they could cook and they did it well.

Molly knew Hermione was a treasure and she wanted her to be her real daughter, Hermione had taken on the mission of making her children help around the house and understand the hard work of running a household, she was forever grateful. Now her own mission was pairing her up with one of her children. Her 7th son Harry was already well on his way to being a part of the family by being with Ginny. Now Hermione might fit with Ron even though they seemed to be friends only. Maybe one of the twins, even though they don't show it much they are very intelligent and would brighten her day, opposites attract as they say. Maybe Charlie, she had a feeling that without her help he would remain a bachelor forever. No she wanted grandchildren, and he was also intelligent, maybe dragon fixated and living far away but still her son, in need of a strong woman, and Hermione was most certainly a strong, capable woman. She needed to get to work soon to make a match between Hermione and one of her boys. She smiled to herself, Hermione would make a great Weasley!

THE END!


End file.
